World Cup 2026: Ticket prices drop 50 percent after Portugal, USA exits

2 min readJul 8, 2026 12:31 PM Following the elimination of hosts USA and Criano Ronaldo’s Portugal from the FIFA World Cup 2026, the ticket market for the rest of the knockout stages have undergone a significant shift this week.
Portugal’s 1-0 defeat to reigning European champions Spain brought an end to Ronaldo’s World Cup dream. The result effectively coincided with a sharp fall in ticket prices. With one of football’s biggest superstars no longer in the competition, matches that would likely have commanded far higher prices had Portugal reached the quarter-finals are now seeing a noticeable decline in demand.
ALSO READ | FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarterfinals Schedule: Qualified teams, match dates
Co-hosts United States also crashed out before the quarter-finals, suffering a 4-1 defeat to Belgium in Seattle on Monday. Had Portugal overcome Spain and the USA beaten Belgium, a potential quarter-final meeting between the two would likely have drawn significantly greater fan interest, driving ticket demand and prices even higher.
According to a report ticket search engine SeatPick, the average get-in price for this year’s quarter-finals has plummeted 31.5 percent over the past one to two days and 50.4 percent over the last three days. The number of tickets available on the secondary market has also surged to 49,415, up sharply from the 28,285 led when the World Cup first kicked off.
ALSO READ | How France are reacting to all-Argentine referee lineup for World Cup quarterfinal
Semifinal ticket prices have also dropped, although they could rise again depending on the remaining fixtures. For example, a blockbuster semifinal between France and Spain at AT&T Stadium in Dallas on July 14, or an England-Argentina clash in Atlanta on July 15, would almost certainly boost demand in the resale market.Story continues below this ad
FIFA World Cup 2026 current ticket pricing situation (according to GameTime):
Semifinal 1 (Winner Match 97 vs Winner Match 98) — Dallas, July 14Get-in: $2,320 | Median: $5,193 | Maximum: $19,365 | ▼ 42% from the June 24 peak ($4,931)
Semifinal 2 (Winner Match 99 vs Winner Match 100) — Atlanta, July 15Get-in: $2,708 | Median: $6,152 | Maximum: $31,850 | ▼ 52% from the June 24 peak ($5,645)
World Cup Final — New Jersey, July 19Get-in: $9,015 | Median: $16,904 | Maximum: $67,610 | ▼ 20% from the June 24 peak ($11,132).